Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

May 2014

May 30, 2014

Researchers were astonished this week to discover that Moonbird had returned to Delaware Bay, once again, to gorge on the eggs of horseshoe crabs before resuming his northbound journey.

Moonbird is a red knot and looks like the other shorebirds of the same name, except for the orange band around his leg, which bears the male bird’s other name, B95.

B95 was banded at Delaware Bay, on the Northeast seaboard, in 1995. He was believed to have been at least 2 years old at the time.

He’s the oldest-known member of a species that annually migrates nearly 20,000 miles, round-trip, from Arctic breeding grounds to and from the tip of South America.

It’s one of the longest migrations of any bird species, so imagine the frequent-flier miles logged by B95, who has made this perilous journey, negotiating ferocious storms and headwinds, for at least 21 years.

Researchers figure that B95 has flown a distance equivalent to flying to the moon and halfway back. Hence the name, Moonbird, a four-ounce marvel who is famous in the global birding community.

Moonbird represents a dream sighting, and Delaware Bay, where red knots converge by the thousands for about two weeks to refuel and fatten up on horseshoe crab eggs, is the most likely spot from which to spot Moonbird.

But each time Moonbird is spotted, researchers wonder whether it will be the last. How can a small bird that has endured so many marathon migrations, they wonder, possess the strength and stamina for another?

So on Sunday morning at Reeds Beach in New Jersey, when researcher Patricia Gonzalez saw through her spotting scope a red knot bearing an orange tag with a faded B95 imprint, she was beside herself.

Birders were in force, and included the Nature Conservancy’s Phillip Hoose, who in 2012 wrote a book titled, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95.

Hoose, upon hearing of Moonbird’s presence, hurried to the area only to find that B95 had moved on. “Jilted again,” he quipped.

Charles Duncan, a Maine conservationist and seasonal visitor to Delaware Bay, was also present. He told the Inquirer: “None of us ever believed that B95 would live to be 21 years old and just keep going as strong as ever. But here we are. And now I think none of us would dare bet–25, 30? Who knows?”

Red knots, like other shorebirds, have declined over the years, in part due to the over harvesting of horseshoe crabs at Delaware Bay, which is a critical staging area.

According to the Inquirer, the Delaware Bay population dropped from 100,000 birds decades ago, to only 12,000 in 2003.

But this has been a prolific spring for the horseshoe crab spawn, and red knots have fattened up and look healthy.

That bodes well for the breeding season in the Arctic tundra. It might also bode well for Moonbird, who will need all the strength he can muster for another journey to South America.

May 28, 2014

Fin whales are the world’s second largest whale species and can measure 80-plus feet, and weigh as much as 70 tons. Because of their immense size, they almost never breach, which makes the rare photo accompanying this story all the more striking.

The image was captured May 22 in the Strait of Gibraltar by a researcher for the Spanish cetacean conservation group, CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre cetáceos).

CIRCE posted the image and a YouTube video to its Facebook page last week. The video footage shows two of three breaches–the first at 3 seconds and the second at 1:15–and reveal that the cetacean is almost leaping completely free of the water.

Fin whales, second in size only to blue whales, are incredibly sleek and can swim at bursts of up to 23 mph, which helps explain how this particular whale was able to make like a surface-to-air missile in the Strait of Gibraltar.

It’s unclear why the whale jumped, just as nobody is 100% certain why any of the smaller species of whales sometimes breach.

Humpback whales are famous for breaching, along with other surface behavior that could possibly represent a form of communication. Some scientists theorize that gray whales breach in an attempt to shake barnacles free of their skin.

But fin whales, like blue whales, typically do not break the surface in any type of breaching behavior.

"It's a very rare behavior," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher. "It's rarely observed and even more rarely captured on camera. If one does happen to breach, what are the chances that you're going to be ready with a camera?"

Fin whales, for the past severl years, have been spotted feeding in nearshore waters off Southern California. In the project's 31 years, volunteers have seen only a handful of fin whale breaches. That includes a phenomenal display last month, when one or possibly two fin whales breached 20-plus times.

The fin whale, named because of a prominent dorsal fin far back on its body, feeds predominantly on shrimp-like krill and schooling bait fish. The whales are found worldwide but are considered an endangered species, numbering about 40,000 in the northern hemisphere, and 15,000 to 20,000 in the southern hemisphere.

The amazing photo of the Strait of Gibraltar breach inspired many comments on the CIRCE Facebook page, mostly in Spanish, but with some English-language commentary, such as “Good grief. Imagine the splash!” and “Raw power… totally impressive.”

Another commenter asked, "Is this for real?," and others also thought it might have been photoshopped. Were it not for the supporting video footage, these would have been valid observations.

May 27, 2014

Cabo San Lucas is often referred to as the striped marlin capital of the world, and fishing for stripers has been nearly as hot as the weather these past few weeks off Baja California’s tip.

But what’s peculiar, according to reports, is the number of sharks mixed in with marlin at some of the main areas in the Sea Of Cortez.

Pisces Sportfishing reports the catch of 20 sharks during the past week, most of which were released. They included threshers, hammerheads and pilot sharks.

A May 20 charter aboard Bill Collector caught threshers weighing 160 and 140 pounds, along with the release of two marlin. The larger thresher shark fought for nearly four hours.

Anglers aboard Ruthless, Rebecca and La Brisa also caught threshers, and the Bill Collector crew logged another day in which anglers released three pilot sharks weighing to about 180 pounds, plus a thresher and striped marlin.

The Rebecca crew, on another day, logged the catch (and release) of a hammerhead shark, along with two threshers and a striper.

Hammerheads are protected and must be released.

The prime fishing spots are Punta Gorda and Points north, and the 11.50 spot.

May 22, 2014

**Thursday night update: The tagging effort mentioned below has been halted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. White sharks are are a candidate for the California Endangered Species Act and, apparently, the proper permits were not in place. The whale carcass, at the time of this 10 p.m. update, was being towed to an area where it most likely will not end up back on the coast.

About 20 miles beyond San Diego, Keith Poe sits in his boat and keeps watch for sharks, specifically great whites.

He knows they’ll come because attached to Poe’s boat, at the end of a long rope, is a 50-foot fin whale carcass–the best kind of chum.

The whale washed ashore Monday at Point Loma, not far from SeaWorld, and experts could not figure out a practical way to dispose of the large cetacean. (The cause of death is not yet clear.)

Enter the Marine Conservation Science Institute, which volunteered to tow the whale to sea in the name of science. That happened late Wednesday afternoon and evening, with the help of lifeguards, NOAA and, of course, Poe.

Poe, a veteran fisherman and shark tagger, brought lots of popup tags and is hoping to fit them on great whites and, specifically, pregnant great whites. The tags will have a deployment life of 140 days and allow MCSI scientists to determine where they go from here and, thus, where they came from.

(Adult white sharks congregate seasonally at seal rookeries at Guadalupe Island, 160 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, and the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco, and other Bay Area sites.)

“We will tow [the whale] offshore and then babysit it while we wait for sharks to find us. When that happens we hope to tag adult females that are in the area for pupping. This will be the first attempt to tag pupping females in Southern California.”

Some scientists believe that great white sharks give birth near the Southern California coast, and also along the Baja California coastline. Michael Domeier, president and executive director of MCSI, has tracked Guadalupe Island white sharks extensively, and believes they also enter Mexico’s Sea of Cortez to give birth.

Juvenile white sharks are seen or encountered fairly regularly by Southern California beachgoers and fishermen. They're also

They feed in nearshore waters off Southern California and Baja California until they become large enough to begin preying on seals and sea lions, mostly at or near the rookeries mentioned above.

Poe stated via Facebook message on Wednesday night that he was alone with the whale and expected to stay at sea 5-7 days.

But there’s a great deal of scent emanating outward and downward, so it’s unlikely that Poe is alone, and when the sharks start appearing he'll be anything but lonely.

–Pete Thomas

–Top photo, showing the whale carcass being hauled offshore, is courtesy of the Marine Conservation Science Institute; great white shark photo is generic

May 21, 2014

A 50-foot fin whale carcass that washed ashore Monday at Point Loma in San Diego will be towed to sea Wednesday afternoon, and be used by researchers as a great white shark magnet.

The Marine Conservation Science Institute stated on Facebook that it will tow the carcass offshore during the afternoon high tide and hope that it attracts great white sharks for tagging purposes.

“We will tow it offshore and then babysit it while we wait for sharks to find us,” the announcement reads. “When that happens we hope to tag adult females that are in the area for pupping. This will be the first attempt to tag pupping females in Southern California.”

Apparently, the city of San Diego decided that turning the carcass over to the MCSI, which would handle the removal duties, was its best option.

Great white sharks are believed by some scientists to give birth in or near Southern California coastal waters.

Juvenile white sharks are seen or encountered fairly regularly by beachgoers and fishermen. They feed in nearshore waters off Southern California and Baja California until they become large enough to begin preying on seals and sea lions, mostly at or near island or coastal rookeries.

In an earlier Facebook post, as the partially-submerged carcass remained on a Point Loma beach, the MCSI stated: "Caution in San Diego. At this time of year, this dead whale could attract very large, female white sharks into the area."

May 19, 2014

The birth of a spectacular supercell thunderstorm was photographed over the weekend as it began to sweep across northeast Wyoming, spinning ominously as storm chasers scrambled to keep up.

The accompanying footage is a time-lapse video using images captured over a period of just more than an hour, as the storm tracked from Wright to Newcastle.

The video was uploaded Sunday by Basehunters, and posted to the group’s Facebook page on Monday. That generated more than 200 shares within the first few hours. The YouTube video surpassed 1 million views by early evening.

Viewers are able to witness the supercell’s ferocious rotation becoming more intense, and torrents of rain drenching the countryside, as the supercell tightens and seems almost ready to touch down.

Reads one of the comments: “Wow! If that touched down it would wipe the earth clean!!!”

Another described the image as portraying “the thumb of God.”

The National Weather Service states that supercell thunderstorms are responsible for the vast majority of significant tornadoes generated in the United States, and can produce giant hail stones and flash flooding, and updrafts that can attain speeds of 100-plus mph.

The footage from Basehunters, a group that is based in Norman, Oklahoma, also reveals somewhat of a glimpse of what it’s like to be a storm chaser.

May 16, 2014

News item: Standup paddler pursues great white shark into shallow water, where surfers sit unsuspectingly, waiting for waves. The encounter is captured on video and widely shared on the Internet. It’s at least the second encounter videotaped this week off Manhattan Beach in Southern California; the other involved a surfer and is picked up by the media. Among the phrases used: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…”; “Surfers beware,” and “Way too close for comfort.”

Reaction: It seems the circus has begun, picking up where it left off last fall. Wagner Deabreu, who uploaded the footage posted below, is merely the latest SUP paddler to have intentionally sought and found a great white shark off Manhattan Beach. He won’t be the last between now and the end of summer. And whereas the media are generally quick to bite, the sharks are not; most surfers know this and choose to stay in the water.

What’s interesting, however, is that while juvenile great white sharks are known to feed along the Southern California coast, Manhattan Beach is somewhat of an epicenter for sightings each spring and summer. Sharks are spotted by boaters, pier-goers, surfers and paddlers on a fairly regular basis.

Scientists say that young white sharks regard the area, which is reasonably tranquil and warm, as a prime feeding ground. They prey mostly on bottom fishes such as halibut, small rays, and other small sharks. But shark experts also know that the advent of standup paddling (SUP) and mountable video cameras have combined to created a circus atmosphere.

Last November, after a spate of intentional close encounters, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife cautioned paddlers and pier fishermen that they could be in violation of state law. White sharks are a protected species and it’s illegal to harass them.

Stated white shark expert Chris Lowe: “Right now, every surfer/thrill seeker with a GoPro is going out to Manhattan Beach and trying to film them, ride them, and catch them on hook and line.

“Most people do not understand the regulations, and that even incidental catch [or] being caught swimming after a shark with a GoPro camera can be considered take or harassment and is a citable, even jailable offense.”

Was Deabreu harassing the 7- to 9-foot white shark he seemed to be herding directly toward the surfers? That’s for others to judge.

Another question is when the next encounter will arrive on the Internet, or on the nightly news. At least two great whites were spotted multiple times this week swimming near the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Fishermen on the pier will be hooking sharks at some point soon, intentionally or unintentionally, and SUP paddlers will follow and videotape them.

Fortunately, these predators don’t get interested in larger prey–seals and sea lions–until they reach 10-12 feet. By then they typically are in other areas, such as island and coastal rookeries.

If those larger sharks chose to remain off Manhattan Beach, however, this would be an entirely different kind of circus.

May 13, 2014

The long-playing saga of a lonely wolf named OR7 appears to have taken a happy turn, as the wandering young predator appears to have found a mate in Oregon's Cascade Mountains.

It's quite likely, also, that the pair is rearing cubs.

OR7 made headlines in 2011 when he traversed 700 miles of Oregon wilderness and crossed into California at the end of the year, becoming the first known wolf in California in nearly 90 years.

OR7, which was born to a pack in northeast Oregon, was presumed to have been searching for a mate and could not have known that there were no other wolves in California.

But he remained in California–except for a very brief trip back to southern Oregon–for more than a year, ranging across remote terrain in several counties.

Few knew what OR7 looked like. He was not photographed when he was tagged as a cub. But because of his romantic odyssey he developed many fans, including schoolchildren, who followed his progress on the Internet.

They hoped that OR7 would not be shot by a rancher or hunter, and that he would someday, somehow, find a companion.

This week the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a news release with the headline: “Wolf OR7 may have found a mate.”

Biologists assume this is true based on images captured in early May, via remote sensor cameras on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, that showed a black female wolf in the same area where OR7 is located (bottom two images).

New images of OR7 also were captured by the same cameras (top image shows OR7).

“This information is not definitive, but it is likely that this new wolf and OR7 have paired up,” said John Stephenson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf biologist. “More localized GPS collar data from OR7 is an indicator that they may have denned. If that is correct, they would be rearing pups at this time of year.”

If there are cubs, it will mark the first known wolf breeding in the Oregon Cascades since the early 20th century.

While not everybody is a fan of wolves, or their fairly recent expansion throughout the West, lots of people are rooting for OR7.

Stated the Defenders of Wildlife’s Suzanne Stone:

“This is a great sign of wolf recovery in the Pacific West, and indeed some of the most exciting news we’ve had since OR7 re-visited California back in February. This would be the first wolf breeding in the Oregon Cascades in nearly 100 years!”

Added Russ Morgan, wolf program coordinator for ODWF: “This latest development is another twist in OR7’s interesting story.”

The ODWF will not be able to confirm whether OR7 is a new father until June or later, when the agency performs its first pup surveys of the season.

To be sure, this is an interesting development, considering that at the end of last year, there were only 64 known wolves in Oregon, mostly in the northeast corner of the state.

–Pete Thomas

–Photos showing OR7 (top) and his presumed new mate are courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

May 12, 2014

*Note: This post was updated Tuesday morning to include input from the diver, Jimmy Roseman

The water was murky and the situation tense. Jimmy Roseman was tucked amid Florida reefs using his speargun to repeatedly fend off a great white shark.

The 12- to 14-foot predator first announced its presence as Roseman approached the bottom, about 80 feet beneath the surface, off Bethel Shoals. His two dive mates, Brian Brumaster and Craig Goodwin, had remained on the boat.

Moments after Roseman switched on his GoPro camera he felt something shove him from behind, and could hear a pinging noise that “must have been the shark’s teeth hitting the tank.”

This was the beginning of a harrowing dive, last Tuesday, that Roseman will never forget. “The shark then shot out in front of me and swam away,” he recalled.

“Right away I got up against the reef and circled with it, keeping my eye and speargun on it,” he said. “As it circled it was only about seven feet away. When it would come in closer, I would poke it with my gun, but it didn’t seem to bother it to much.

“This is when I started to worry about how I could get it away because it seemed to be getting more aggressive . I poked it three or four times, then it turned and came straight at me.”

Roseman considered shooting the shark, as a last resort, but realized that his spear would not do much harm to a predator he estimated to weigh nearly 2,000 pounds.

“I was hoping it would swim away long enough for me to make a break to the surface,” he said.

The shark made another pass and Roseman tried something he hadn’t yet tried; he poked the shark much harder than before, on the side of the head, and the shark swam off.

“I waited for a few seconds and decided this was my chance to break for the surface–the part I was most worried about,” Roseman said. “But it all worked out after that last poke because I never saw the shark again.”

nce back on the boat Roseman shared his tale with Brumaster and Goodwin.

They were prepared to dive but first it was decided that a more suitable location was neeeded. They piloted the boat four miles to another system of reefs, and resumed the hunt for game fish.

“We dove the remainder of the day and did not see any more sharks,” Roseman said.

His friend, Chris Saunders, uploaded the video on Friday, inserting the sensational music “obviously as a joke to add some fun to the video.”